TurkerHub Community Guidelines

1. GENERAL GUIDELINES

BE RESPECTFUL

We're all here to (metaphorically) work together. Everyone will have a much better time if we can show a little kindness and respect for others (and their opinions) throughout the day.

POST WORK APPROPRIATE CONTENT

Content posted (especially in the Daily Threads) should be suitable for work, or properly placed in a spoiler tag marked as NSFW.

ONE ACCOUNT PER PERSON

Members must limit themselves to one account on TurkerHub. If you have multiple people in the same household please e-mail admin@turkerhub.com or DM @ChrisTurk prior to registration.

LET MODS DO THE HEAVY LIFTING

Reporting content that violates the guidelines is the safest way to respond to inappropriate content. Helping people learn is great, but do so respectfully or not at all.

DON'T BE AGGRESSIVE, RUDE, OR DISRESPECTFUL

Personal attacks, aggressive messages, and passive-aggressive behavior is unacceptable. Warnings will be handed out (and possible bans) for flame-baiting and other disruptive behavior.

DON'T POST OBSCENE CONTENT

Gore, explicit pornography (some adult content is OK), and other "disturbing" and unsuitable for workplace content should never be posted (NSFW Spoiler tags are for mild adult content only).

DON'T CREATE MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS

Creating and using multiple accounts will result in closure of all accounts. It becomes too confusing for other members to keep up with and detracts from conversation.

DON'T BACKSEAT MOD

Attacking members for violating TurkerHub or mTurk guidelines does no good, and may end in warnings for your account as well.

1A) PERSONAL DETAILS
You may, as a member of TurkerHub, share and communicate as much about your personal life as you're comfortable sharing. Build friendships, connect with others, have an enjoyable time here. Online work can be isolating and lonely, and the Staff at TurkerHub will strive to create a community where people can feel comfortable with each other.
However, no one is to share information about another member of this community, or the mTurk community as a whole, in a malicious or negative manner. There will be a zero tolerance policy for doing so. Harassment of any kind is unacceptable. There is generally a clear and distinct line between playful joking and harassment, if you're not sure on it please contact a Staff member or Admin.

2. DAILY THREAD / MTURK RELATED GUIDELINES

SHARE SURVEYS, NOT SURVEY CONTENT

Feel free to share great HITs and Surveys with everyone here. Posting HITs with relevant information like completion time, commentary on timer length, unpaid screeners, and requirements for Inquisit (etc) are all fantastic contributions.

ALWAYS BE QUALLIN'

Helping members to be aware of Qual HITs is an amazing way to help fellow Turkers. Forwarding requesters here to recruit workers is highly appreciated and we work hard to present a professional atmosphere for this reason.

CONTRIBUTE AS YOU'RE ABLE

Not everyone can share great HITs or donate, but you can always add positively to discussions. Welcoming new members is a great way to improve the atmosphere and longevity of TurkerHub. Same applies for simply interacting with and contributing to each other's day.

DON'T POST SURVEY CONTENT

Do not share questions, the presence or type of attention check(s), demographic requirements to pass screeners, or personal contact information about requesters (IRB details are generally fine).

DON'T GIVE OUT CHEAT SHEETS

Giving away the answers to a qual test/HIT, or strongly hinting at the proper way to answers questions is unacceptable. It ruins a Requesters ability to recruit good workers and hurts the reputation of this forum and its members.

DON'T DETRACT FROM DISCUSSION

Excessively posting low quality content ruins the experience for others. There will and should always be "watercooler" type chatter on the forum but keep it reasonable. Do not spam the Daily Thread, especially during peak work hours (7AM-7PM EST).

2A) TEACHING VS BERATING
As a rule of life you can rarely control other people's actions. Believe me, I understand the frustration of working that fire batch only to have the HITs Available counter drop by the thousands in a second. However, there is nothing you can do about it and the instances of complaining about it versus it being the result of anything taking place on TurkerHub is out of whack. Taking your frustrations out on others (even under the guise of "teaching" them) will no longer be entertained here.

Everyone is encouraged to give advice and guidance, but complaining or attacking members who post content (mTurk related or not) isn't OK. Everyone is better off spending their time and energy working instead of policing.

The same applies to feedback on posted HITs, off-handed comments or jokes about work, etc. There's really just no circumstance where its OK to be vicious with another person, please show some compassion and a little restraint when providing feedback/advice.

2B) NIGHT CREW
It is a longstanding tradition that rules are generally relaxed "after work hours." While this isn't an excuse to outright disregard forum etiquette the hours of 10PM EST - 5AM EST can be a good time to unwind, relax, and hangout with fellow workers in a more social setting (or, y'know, get some sleep). Work can still be shared/accomplished, but discussion will probably be less moderated during these times. Disallowed mTurk related content and obscenities are still strictly prohibited no matter the hour.

3. WARNINGS & BANS
In order to avoid situations where users feel they are unfairly singled out or targeted, or that a mistake/misinterpretation by Staff/Admin incurred a violation, violating the rules above will result in a warning from a Staff member or Admin, as well as likely removal of offending content.

Most warnings will generate a point against your account, which expires after 1 month (some exceptions will be made for especially egregious offenses, such as clearly malicious or over-the-top personal attacks). When certain thresholds are met your account will be temporarily or permanently banned. This means that no single infraction will result in a ban, and a simple mistake/misunderstanding will be meaningless so long as a member's behavior is consistently within the guidelines.

Think of warnings as friendly suggestions to keep you posting good, positive content. Not as punishment.

Many infractions will incur an immediate reply ban to the thread the infraction occurred on of no less than 1 hour.
At 4 points an account will receive a temporary 1 day ban.
At 6 points an account will receive a temporary 1 week (7 day) ban.
At 8 points an account will receive a temporary 1 month ban.
At 10 points an account will receive a permanent suspension.